Posted by Arthur on February 11, 2000 at 19:07:47:
I had occasion to be in Rayburn Music today (right next to Boston's Symphony Hall) and I saw 3 rotary valve horns from Winston that I hadn't seen before. One was a 4 valve BBb, the next a 5 valve CC/BBb convertable, and the third a 4 valve F. I thought I would share my impressions with the following disclaimers: I only had time to play each one for about 20 minutes, I am certainly not a stellar tubist and, I was playing these beasts with a brand new (for me) type of mouthpiece (hence the trip to the store).
1. All of the valves/linkages were smooth and quiet.
2. The general workmanship (fit and finish) seemed to be good on each horn.
3. The BBb played fairly nicely, it seemed to blow quite freely down to about low F. It actually kind of reminded me of a Cervany 681.
4. The CC/BBb I did not really care for. As soon as I hit the 5th valve it seemed to get quite stuffy. Viewed as just a 4 valve CC it was OK but then why buy it?
5. The little F was the best of the bunch. It had a nice sound (even when I was playing it) and accoring to the tuner was right on.
There are my opinions for what they are worth. If you happen to be in Boston Rayburn has these 3 and about a dozen other tubas available to try at the moment.